'Phantom' returns to the Opera House in 'Love Never Dies'

Ever wonder if soprano Christine Daaé, the beautiful, young heroine of “The Phantom of the Opera,” got her happily-ever-after?

She survived the falling chandelier, but what happened to the musical genius behind the mask. Did he really die at the end, as he did in Gaston Leroux’s original novel? Or did he live on to continue his dangerous fixation on his protégée even after she escaped his Paris Opera House lair with her true love, Raoul?

In “Love Never Dies” – which comes to the Boston Opera House on January 30 – composer Andrew Lloyd Webber answers those questions and raises some new ones. But while the show does continue the story begun in his record-shattering mega-musical, “Phantom,” Lloyd Webber hasn’t always liked hearing it called a sequel.

“What Andrew means is that this show is a stand-alone piece. You can see and enjoy it even if you’ve never seen ‘Phantom,’ but they’re still very clearly connected,” explained “Love Never Dies” lyricist and book co-author Glenn Slater by telephone from his New York home recently.

“While ‘Phantom’ is a glittering horror romance with a heightened sense of action, ours is a more regretful look back, an autumnal vision. It’s emotionally engrossing, but it also has the horror aspects so beloved in the original. And the whole production is just full-out gorgeous.

“There is a lot of action too, though, involving choices now faced by the characters because of earlier choices they made. There’s an almost hallucinogenic intensity to this piece. The visuals are truly amazing,” says Slater.

Set in 1907, the new show finds the outcast Phantom living among circus freaks and carnival barkers on New York’s Coney Island. Posing as an unidentified concert impresario, he books the now world-renowned Christine Daaé to appear at the beach resort while she is in Manhattan for a concert.

With Raoul having squandered much of their money on drinking and gambling, Christine takes the added gig and heads to Brooklyn with her errant husband and young son, Gustave, in tow.

Slater already had two of his own young sons, with wife Wendy Leigh Wilf, a composer, lyricist, and jazz musician, when he earned his first Tony nomination for Best Original Score, alongside composer Alan Menken, for the 2008 Broadway production of “The Little Mermaid.”

He has since earned two more – for 2011’s “Sister Act,” also with Menken, and 2015’s “School of Rock,” for which he wrote the lyrics to another Lloyd Webber score. He is currently represented on Broadway by that show and last season’s “A Bronx Tale,” his latest pairing with Menken.

While the last decade has brought him considerable success – also including a 2012 Grammy Award in the Best Song Written for Visual Media category for “I See the Light” from the Disney animated feature film, “Tangled” – the 49-year-old still vividly recalls first hearing about “Love Never Dies” in 2008.

“Usually, when a composer approaches you about writing lyrics, you get a recording of that person playing the songs on a piano so you can get a sense of the music. For this show, however, Andrew sent along demos he had recorded with a 90-piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. I immediately thought to myself, ‘I don’t care what happens, I have to write to that music.’”

The New York native soon learned that the legendary and prolific Lloyd Webber (“Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats,” “Evita,” “Sunset Boulevard”) also wanted to work with him.

“One of the reasons I got ‘Love Never Dies’ is that I was forthright with Andrew from the very beginning about the changes I felt needed to be made to the synopsis. He listened and then he gave me the melody to ‘Til I Hear You Sing.’

“It’s the opening number and it marks the real difference between ‘Phantom’ and this show. It is the Phantom letting us know what is in his heart and mind – something we never experience in the earlier show,” says Slater.

“It wasn’t a flat-out audition, but I took it as such. I knew I had to knock Andrew off his feet from the very beginning, so I did. He telephoned me almost immediately after reading my lyrics for the song. ‘This is glorious,’ he said. ‘We must continue together.’”

With that, the Harvard graduate who once wrote for both the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the “Harvard Crimson” student newspaper, joined the long-gestating production.

“Andrew first began working on ‘Love Never Dies’ in the early 1990s and collaborated with writer Frederick Forsyth on an early book for the show. Those drafts were ultimately deemed unable to be musicalized, but they did form the basis for Forsyth’s 1999 novel, ‘The Phantom of Manhattan.’ Andrew then turned to writer Ben Elton, who did a 20-page plot synopsis. It was at about this time that I also joined the creative team.

“Once we moved away from the Forsyth book, we were essentially working on a brand-new show. Jack O’Brien came in as director and the show had its world premiere in the West End in 2010. It was the most anticipated show to open in London in a very long time,” recalls the writer.

Ultimately, however, that version did not meet expectations.

“Musicals are very collaborative. When something falls short, you can either abandon the project or invite in new people to work on it.”

Opting to go the latter route, Lloyd Webber authorized New Zealand-Australian director Simon Phillips (“Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Musical”) to undertake a revamped production, which opened in Melbourne in May 2011 and played Sydney in 2012.

“Simon solved some of the show’s structural problems and difficulties with staging,” according to Slater. “And Charles Hart was brought in to provide some additional lyrics.”

Under Phillips’ direction, the Australian version, with new set and costume designs by Gabriela Tylesova, is the one now touring North America. The production does, however, retain one vital element from its earliest days.

“Andrew’s score is lush, romantic, and brilliantly put together. As with most of his shows, Andrew doesn’t rely on the book. He lets his music tell the story. It is the one thing that has always worked,” says Slater.